1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to programmable integrated circuits. More specifically, the present invention relates to techniques for programming, sequentially or simultaneously, multiple printed circuit boards which include programmable integrated circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
Programmable devices that can be programmed and reprogrammed without being removed from their application environment are very valuable in many applications. One type of such device is the "In-System Programmable Logical Device" or "ISP PLD," available from Lattice Semiconductor Corporation. The term "manufacturing programming" refers to the programming of blank "ISP PLD" devices which are already mounted on the printed circuit boards. Such programming is typically achieved by transferring into the "ISP PLD" a bit pattern, which is typically provided to the programmer in an industry standard data format called the JEDEC file format. A method for converting a file in the JEDEC file format to an ispSTREAM file format, which is a file format widely adopted for use with "ISP PLD" devices, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,635,855, entitled "Method for Simultaneous Programming of In-System Programmable Integrated Circuits," to Tang et al., filed on Jul. 21, 1995 and issued on Jun. 3, 1997.
A reprogrammable system is reprogrammed by a host programming device over a hard-wired connection. It is desirable to allow such a programmable system to be reprogrammed over wired or wireless links established at the time of reprogramming, so as to allow reprogramming by a remote programmer (e.g., a portable programming device or a programming device), regardless of where the programmer is located.